


Tainted

by ghostie360



Category: Call of Duty
Genre: Awards, Ceremony, F/M, Flash mob kinda, Ghost looks like a kid with out his mask, I Don't Even Know, If you like this my god, Medal, Meeting the Parents, Music, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Roach can sing and dance now, SAS, Singing, Soaps parents, Sorry Not Sorry, Task Force 141, dafuqu is going on, dance, just for lols, the commanders are kinda dicks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 14:32:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3981631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostie360/pseuds/ghostie360
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Makarov dead and the war over, the team are given their medals... and then some.</p>
<p>Soap, Ghost, Roach, and Yuri are alive in this, just roll with it, they're the best :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tainted

They all waited off the stage, whilst the General did his speech.

“You ok?” Soap squeezed Alexis’s hand.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve just never been to one of these before, unlike you I’ve never gotten a medal for anything” she kept shifting her feet, nervous and excited at the same time. “I can’t wait for after the meal though”.

“You’ll be fine, you just have to walk up to the General, he hands you the medal, and you salute and then wait on the side with the rest of us, ok?” He smiled softly at her. “What’s going on then?” He asked.

“You’ll just have to wait and see, we’ve been planning this for ages” She smiled at his confusion. Alexis could hardly believe that he was so close to death a couple of months before, the same to Ghost, Roach, Price, Nikolai and Yuri.  Alexis looked at all of them now, uniforms pristine and boots shining; Ghost had finally removed his mask but now looked a bit like a kid, with his blonde hair and baby blue eyes.

Price sat next to her and whispered “you’ve dealt with harder things than this Alex, be proud of yourself”.

“Thanks old man” She hugged him.

A few more minutes passed and they were called on, one by one; Price first. Then the others; Alexis was the only one left.

“And the last soldier we have to present a medal to is unfortunately no longer with us” The General addressed all the families and other soldiers in the crowd. Alexis frowned, confused at what was happening.

“This belongs to Sargent Kamarov, we honour his bravery and sacrifice” He bowed his head momentarily, and then looked up. “I look forward to seeing all of you at the dinner tonight, thank you”.

Price and the others left off the other side of the stage with the General, and other Commanders. Alexis just sat by herself, her legs trembling too much to move. _But I, I… helped, didn’t I?_ She wondered.

Ten minutes later Alexis managed to get up, and walked out the way she came. Outside was filled with people; she filed through the crowd trying to avoid having to talk to anyone.

She saw Price and Soap a few metres away, they were both smiling, talking to some people Alexis didn’t recognise. She went over to them after being unable to get their attention. On her approach Price saw her and waved her over.

“What the hell happened?” He said as soon as she was near him.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say _Captain Zakhaev_ so I didn’t move. Why didn’t they mention me? I was with you, in the helicopter when it was shot down, when Yuri was wounded, when Makarov was hanged; I was with you. Don’t I count?” Her voice was shaky, unable to process her feelings.

“Hey, calm down, they might just have missed you. We can ask him later, ok?” Price proposed a rational explanation to it, but she had trouble believing him; _Zakhaev_ wasn’t a name you could easily miss.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you.” Price pulled her towards the couple Soap was talking to.

“Wait, what?” She was surprised at this.

“Sorry about that, this is Captain Zakhaev” He said putting her in between his self and Soap, in front of them. She looked at Soap, confused.

“Sorry, Alex, these are my parents. Mum Dad, this is Alexis.” Soap said to them.

“It’s nice to finally put a face to the name, John’s told us a lot about you” His mum said to her.

“Ok then, it’s nice to meet you too” She held out her hand.

“We were starting to wonder if you were actually _real_ , he’s always been a bit shy” His dad told her, shaking her hand.

This made Alexis laugh “Trust me, I know” She saw one of the senior Commanders just behind them. “I’m sorry to cut this short but I need to talk to someone, I’ll see you at the dinner though” She smiled and started to move away, Price caught her sleeve.

“Don’t do anything stupid” He warned her, knowing how hot headed she could be.

“Since when do I do stupid things” She smiled at him, and then ran after the Commander.

“Sir… Sir!” She called after him.

He stopped and turned to face her “Captain.”

“Sir. Why wasn’t I mentioned at the ceremony?” She asked him boldly.

He sighed, “Were you not told earlier?”

“No Sir.”

“We made the decision to not include you in the ceremony as there were a lot of families there who have lost someone because of Zakhaev. Giving someone with the same name as him that honour would have provoked a lot of questions which would be difficult for us to answer. You have not been forgotten, and you will receive your medals, but it cannot be done in public” He told her bluntly.

She looked at him, mouth slightly open.

“I’m Sorry Captain, it was a hard decision, but we believe it to be the right one. Was that all?” He was clearly done with this conversation.

“Yes Sir, thank you for explaining” She turned, and walked back to Price and Soap.

_No matter how hard I try, I will always be tainted by his name,_ she told herself.

She didn’t want to see Soaps parents again just yet, but Price had spotted her and gave her a questioning look.

She just shook her head, and walked back to her room.

Soap came in half an hour later to see Alexis lying down and staring at her dog tags. He sat next to her and gently said “What did he say?”

“They decided that giving someone called Zakhaev an honour like that would have hurt some of the audience” She whispered to him.

“What? That’s just stupid…”

Alexis cut him off “It’s not though, he’s right; it’s too soon I’m still getting the medals, just not publicly, so it’s not too bad; would have been nice though”.

“As long as you’re ok” He smiled at her.

“I’m fine, your parents seem nice” She propped herself up next to him.

“Yeah, they like you” He said.

“What have you told them about me?” She asked.

“Well, not too much, just general things like you’ve been in the SAS and Task Force, you’re a Captain, Price is your guardian, that you’ve been with us on just about every mission no matter what. Oh and that you amazing in every way.”

“Ah, so kind of you. Did they know about Zakhaev before or after Price told them?” she mentioned casually.

“I explained to them when you went… you don’t mind do you?” He was unsure what she’d say.

“Probably for the best, at least they know now” She gave him a small smile “What do we wear for this meal thing? I don’t really own any dresses”.

“The General said we _should_ wear still be in uniform, but it can be whichever you like. I’m going for a shower, be back in a bit” He kissed her forehead and went to the small shower room.

Alexis looked through all of her wardrobe; _I’ll ask Price,_ she thought. After four rings he answered.

“What’s up?” He answered loudly. By the level of noise, Alexis guessed that he was still outside.

“What do I wear for tonight? I never really wore any of the uniforms, so I don’t have many.” She asked him.

“Just wear some combats, boots, and an issued shirt. That’s what all of us are doing.” He told her.

“Ok then, thanks” She hung up and rooted around her wardrobe again, pulling out her Arctic Camo trousers, and a black t-shirt with the SAS and Task Force emblem on it. _This should do… could use an iron though, and I’d better polish my boots again_.

“Showers all yours when you want it” Soap walked back into the room.

“Thanks, do you know what I did with the iron? I can’t remember” She asked him.

“I think it’s in that cupboard, I don’t suppose you want to iron mine as well…” He smirked at her.

“Hell no! Do it yourself, lazy shit” She laughed at him.

…

“Do you think I look ok?” Roach asked Alexis as all of them walked to the hall.

“You look fine, what’s with the long sleeves though?” She asked poking his arm.

“I didn’t think that anyone would want to see the burns on my arms.” He told her quietly.

“You don’t need to cover them, you’re a hero.” She smiled.

“Yours are always covered though”

“That’s because mine go down my side and leg. Anyway there’s a little one on my arm, see. So shush”. She then nudged him “You ready for later?”

“You bet, on your lead Captain” He smirked at her.

All of them walked in together, and took their seats. “Will your parents be sitting with us” She asked Soap.

“Yeah, I think so; is that ok?” He held her hand.

“That’s fine” she smiled.

After having their meal and a long discussion about Soap when he was a kid; Alexis felt more at ease and comfortable around them. The lights started dimming around them, leaving coloured spotlights over the front of the hall, which was free of tables.

“What’s going on?” Soap asked her.

Alexis just smiled at him, and then walked in to the lights, she was joined by Roach. They stood next to each other, and a pulsating beat sounded the speakers, it was _David Guetta’s Play Hard_.

They started dancing to the rhythm in perfect sync. Soon enough more people joined them creating a large group of people, dancing as one. The music merged with more songs changing the dance style each time. After a while of solid dancing the final song ended, but they didn’t leave Roach and Alexis were thrown microphones by one of the other dancers.

A new song started playing _Immortals by Fall out Boy_. They sang it together, their voices complementary to each other. The dancers continued around them, keeping up with the beat. A few more songs played including _Neon Lights by Demi Lovato_ , after they had finished the last song, the lights went out, and they all ran back to their seats. They were met by applause when the lights came back on.

“Since when do you and Roach sing and dance?” Soap asked her.

“Since for ages, did you like it?” She was still smiling.

“I’m pretty sure that everyone did” He Smiled back and hugged her tight.


End file.
